In The Post – Stars Poised to Return in Round 2

Catch up on all the latest headlines from around the basketball world in today’s edition of In the Post.

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Blanchfield back early?

Could Todd Blanchfield make an early return? The West Australian reports Perth is “likely to be strengthened by the return of star shooter Todd Blanchfield for the clash with Brisbane” on Sunday.

Blanchfield was expected to be out until January after offseason knee surgery. Click here to read the full story.

Vickerman hopeful on Goulding, White

Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman has declared David Barlow will return for Sunday’s Throwdown, while he remains hopeful Chris Goulding and Jack White will pass their fitness tests.

Click here for the full story via The Herald Sun.

“Glue piece” for Sixers poised to return 

Sunday Dech could be in line to return for the Adelaide 36ers tomorrow night against Tasmania.

“Sunday is a glue piece,” coach CJ Bruton told 7 News.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Adelaide36ers</a> coach CJ Bruton is remaining calm despite his side&#39;s winless start to the season. After going undefeated in the <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBL</a> Blitz, poor shooting and turnovers have led to back-to-back defeats. <a href="https://t.co/gYFVWBHNhA">https://t.co/gYFVWBHNhA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/robcornthwaite?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@robcornthwaite</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7NEWS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7NEWS</a> <a href="https://t.co/PmVMRsHwSP">pic.twitter.com/PmVMRsHwSP</a></p>&mdash; 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) <a href="https://twitter.com/7NewsAdelaide/status/1468135943618105349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Taipans back Machado

The Cairns Taipans have backed star guard Scott Machado to respond from a poor round one performance, with teammate Jarrod Kenny telling the Cairns Post “I’m not worried about him, his confidence or his headspace”.

Achilles no issue for Majok 

Wildcats rebounding machine Majok Majok says he is completely over his Achilles injury and he doesn’t even think about it anymore.

Read Majok’s full quotes here via The West Australian.

Scoring firepower excites AJ

Illawarra captain AJ Ogilvy is excited about the scoring power the Hawks have, noting players such as Tyler Harvey, Justinian Jessup, Duop Reath and Xavier Rathan-Mayes can all have big scoring games.

Ogilvy wrote about that, plus the rivalry against the Sydney Kings, here in the Illawarra Mercury.

NBL backs Sobey call

The decision to eject Nathan Sobey in overtime of last Friday’s game against Tasmania was the correct call, according to the league’s Head of Referees Scott Butler.

“On review of the play resulting in the disqualification of Brisbane Bullets player, Nathan Sobey, on Friday night against Tasmania JackJumpers at MyState Bank Arena, it was determined a foul was committed by Sobey who extended his right arm over the left arm of Tasmania player, Will Magnay, as the latter attempted to run down the floor,” Butler said.

“The contact by Sobey was made from behind or laterally to Magnay as he advanced towards Tasmania’s basket. As there were no other players between Magnay, Sobey and Tasmania’s basket, it resulted in an automatic Unsportsmanlike Foul under FIBA Rules.

“Sobey was subsequently disqualified as he received a Technical Foul earlier in the game. The combination of a Technical Foul and Unsportsmanlike Foul results in automatic disqualification under FIBA Rules.”

Exum gets chance at Barca

Australian Boomers star Dante Exum is finally off the free agent market after signing a three-month deal with Barcelona.